


They Wished It Could Last Forever

by benji_and_lesliemin



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, F/M, Summer Camp, Summer Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:08:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24457966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benji_and_lesliemin/pseuds/benji_and_lesliemin
Summary: Ben Wyatt spends every summer doing the same thing: re-watching the original Star Wars trilogy, reading Game of Thrones and playing Settlers of Catan.But when he is shipped off to a summer camp in a different state, where the only people he knows is a long-lost friend and his siblings, somehow he feels right at home with the group of misfits, lead by a passionate and sometimes downright scary blonde, by the name of Leslie Knope.
Relationships: Andy Dwyer/April Ludgate, Ann Perkins/Chris Traeger, Leslie Knope/Ben Wyatt, Mark Brendanawicz/Leslie Knope
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	They Wished It Could Last Forever

"Benji, get your ass down here so your mother can kiss you goodbye" the aggressive voice of his father interrupted his peace, and with a heavy heart, Ben closed his book and trudged down the worn stairs to meet his siblings at the door.

"First things first, I don't want any of you boys knocking some girl up before you turn eighteen, and yes, we are looking at you Henry" warned his mother as Henry gaped at her in mock surprise. To be honest, Ben didn't want to go to this stupid camp, he would rather spend his summer as he usually did, but his sister was excited, and so was his brother, he guessed, Henry didn't tell Ben much these days. 

"And secondly, Benji, before I forget, make sure you say hi to Cousin Chris for us and ask how his mother is, please?" his mother squeezed his arm as she pleaded with him.

"For the last time, he's not my cousin," muttered Ben as he tried to side-step his mom and make a beeline for the unfamiliar car.

"His mother is like a sister to me; therefore, he is practically your cousin," Ben noticed his mother's tone become higher and higher until she was nearing on shouting.

"Ah! They're here!" his mother struggling to contain her excitement.

Ben exasperatingly sighed, he knew he wasn't going to win this one, so he mumbled something about how he would _definitely_ ask, before he picked up his backpack and his suitcase, slipping his shades into his t-shirt pocket.

His parents - Julia and Steven Wyatt - were unusually docile and it didn't seem like they had fought in the last hour or so, a personal best, thought Ben, as he reluctantly hugged his parents' goodbye and made for the door. His older brother, Henry, and younger sister, Stephanie - he was forced to call her Steph as she believed it made his sound cooler -, were waiting for him by a parked car he didn't recognize. 

Ben, Henry and Steph stalked towards the car and was met in the middle by an over-exuberant boy, who was the same age as Ben. The boy was handsome, to say the least, and was tall and exercise crazy and had an affinity to use the word literally, a little too often. 

"Benji Wyatt" the boy exclaimed, fingers pointed in his trademark fashion, his green eyes wide in excitement.

"Hey, Chris" Ben replied with a hint of annoyance, he just couldn't understand how someone could be so excited 24/7 because if Ben knew anything about Chris Traeger, is that, that boy just **could not** stop moving. 

After they packed their bags into the car, which took excruciatingly long, in Ben's opinion, the teenagers were loaded into the back of the Traeger family car, with Ben and Steph practically sitting on top of Henry. Chris, on the other hand, had almost acres of foot space and to Ben's annoyance, barley used it whatsoever. 

Around an hour or so in, Chris offered to swap seats with him, and Ben almost thought about kissing Chris in thanks, as he was finally able to stretch his lanky legs.

"So boys, excited for Sophmore year!? Your freshman year of High School has just gone too quickly, it seems like only yesterday you were playing in Benji's treehouse, huh Chris!" Chris's mother was a lot like his, always peering in someone else's business, but he didn't mind, as long as she stayed away from his love life, his non-existent love life. Ben thought about answering by boasting his space on the varsity Baseball team, but it wasn't worth the breath, Chris had already launched into his plans for the year, which unsurprisingly, involved a lot of fitness, exercise and experimental cooking.

The leather seats of the overly furnished car were already slick with Ben's sweat, his new shirt - which Steph insisted he bought as his wardrobe wasn't "cool enough" - was drenched and his skinny legs had already become stuck to the undersides of the seat. But when the fresh air from the open window hit his welcoming face, and he managed to drown out Chris's hyper voice, Ben decided that maybe, just maybe, he could _possibly_ enjoy this summer.

Steph was busy on the phone to a girl named Natalie who was coming too and had an older sister who may or may not a massive crush on someone named Andy Dwyer, whoever he was. And Henry was busy chatting with Chris about various exercise techniques, something Ben was oblivious of, as usual. 

So Ben took a psychedelic looking flyer from the zip pocket of his bag and flipped through the pages detailing the various activities the camp provided. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he was kind of looking forward to meeting Chris's new friends. He and Ben used to be next-door neighbours, boisterous boys who did everything together. But a couple of year back, Chris's father was relocated to Indiana, and they hadn't seen each other since.

The brochure advertised its as Camp Golden Lake; a name he found sickly sweet, like something out of a teen flick. The flyer certainly made the camp look stereotypical with log cabins plastered with team merchandise and campfires surrounded by singing teens and s' mores littered on the ground.

"Ben!" Chris's voice was too loud for Ben, and he motioned at him to shut up, his siblings were sleeping soundly, the first time had had peace in what seemed like a year.

"Oh, anyway, before we get there, I want to tell you about the people there!" Chis exclaimed, clearly not getting the hint.

Ben glared at him before mumbling a yes in reply.

"So, there is Andy Dwyer, who is literally, the funniest guy you will EVER meet." 

Chris continued rambling off a list of names, each with a very personal description. Ben tried to tune him out and gathered that Ann was going to be Chris's girlfriend soon when she finally said yes to a date. There were two boys called something like Tim and a name that seemed only appropriate in the 15th Century, who were very extravagant and a girl called April and boy called Orin who he should probably stay out the way of if he wanted all ten of his fingers. 

But he did manage to catch the description of someone called Leslie. Chris had described her as _literarily_ the best person in the world, and then started to list every single thing about her, from her grades to extracurriculars to her friends and what she looked like.

"Oh, and Ben, she's Ann's best friend, so, you know, if you do meet her, can you put in a good word for me?" muttered Chris, the first time Ben hadn't heard him shout. 

\----

Ben woke with a start, the sun beginning to set, the journey had taken 10h, give or take, and they left promptly at 6 am, so he wasn't surprised when his watch beeped on the hour. Henry and Steph were still knocked out, and Chris proudly mentioned that he hadn't slept a wink as Ben looked at him with a dumbfounded expression. The car chugged painfully up the steep mountain, and Ben had to force his head out the open window to prevent any vomiting. 

After ten minutes of the excruciating dance, they arrived at the gates of Camp Golden Lake, where, through the tinted car windows, he could see at least forty teenagers milling around a large building with the camp name in painfully bright letters. He gently nudged Henry who swore at him, screaming at him to "leave him the f*** alone, so Ben did as he pleased. He tries again with Steph, who sat bolt upright with a shout. Her eyes widened as she realized that they had arrived, pulling on Henry's arm as he stirred, it was no secret that Henry liked Steph more than Ben and she felt the same way about the older Wyatt brother. 

Chris was already out of the car and helping his mother unpack the many pieces of luggage. Ben tried to follow but the excruciating pain he felt when he ripped his leg off the seat, left him writhing in pain, he wouldn't find it hard to believe if his leg and the leather seat had been fused together.

Picking up his suitcase and slinging his backpack on his back, he set off towards the camp; his eyes lowered to his feet. He could hear kids laughing and teenage girls gossiping, and he started to smile, maybe this was going to be fun, he thought. 

\----

Suddenly, he felt a body crash into his and fall to the ground, covered in a flurry of paper and books. His eyes shot upwards and caught sight of the stranger sitting on the floor. She was beautiful, exceedingly so, but he didn't even get a chance to blink, before a different girl was in his face, hurling insults like the world was ending.

The second girl was almost ready to smack Ben before her friend groaned in agony, pointing towards her already bruising ankle, as the blonde girl looked at him, shooting daggers. 

"HOW DARE YOU HURT ANN, Ann, you magnificent chinchilla, are you alright? If this jerk has hurt you, I swear to GOD!" the girl looked at him, shooting daggers, unaware that everyone at the camp had started to stare.

Ah, so this is Ann, Ben thought to himself.

" I-I'm Be-Ben" he nervously stuttered, unsure of what to do or say

" I don't recall aski-" Before she could continue, with another insult he presumed, her face began to light up, much to Ben's surprise, at the sight of Chris running towards them,

"LESLIE KNOPE!" shouted Chris. 

Ben's eyes widened in surprise, so this was the famous Leslie Knope. 

Leslie rushed past Ben and flung her arms around him, nearly squeezing the breath from him. Chris returned it energetically, while Ann and Ben stared at each other awkwardly, while she picked dead leaves of her jumper. 

After at least a minute, Ben started to walk towards the Initiation desk, when he heard Chris call for him, so Ben turned back around and stalked towards them. 

"You know Chris?" Leslie inquisitively asked, her steely tone slightly lifting in surprise.

"Yep, I used to live next to Ben before I moved here!" answered Chris before Ben could get a word in.

Leslie's gaze softened, she now only stared at him in mild hate, instead of extreme. 

"This isn't over, Ben" Leslie scoffed as Ann looked at him, giving Ben an apologetic look. 

\-----

Ben and Chris did the whole malarkey of signing in and receiving teams; luckily they were in the same one, Ben didn't think he could last even an hour without Chris with him, remembering the events of the last ten minutes. 

Ben looked behind, trying to keep his eyes on his siblings, Steph was currently standing next to a girl of around the same age, who he guessed must be Natalie, and besides them, a girl who looked exceedingly similar to Natalie, but older and much darker, who Chris pointed out to him as April. Leslie and Ann limped off towards, what was probably the medical centre, and Ben was only slightly jealous of the two best friends, he was stuck with Chris, who was currently teaching a group of five-year-olds the importance of kale and flaxseed milk. 

Dragging Ben behind him, Chris set off the show Ben the camp. He pulled him over rocky paths that overlooked jagged streams and through intimidating woods, which he assured Ben was a shortcut, although, in good intentions, it did not make him feel any better.

As they walked, Chris pointed out various activities he saw on the brochure, a track with dirtbikes lined up at the start, an adventure course that looked similar to those on TV shows and a large sports centre, where he could hear faint screams of joy and splashing, from what thought must be the pool.

They stopped the tour at a series of small cabins, arranged in a semi-circle. Each log cabin had red banners on the doors, and the boys and girls were all wearing red attire: red hoodies with an evil looking racoon, red t-shirts with the same logo, baseball caps, armbands and some kids even had strips of red-dye in their hair. 

"Oh, you're in this camp" Ben jumped as he heard Leslie's voice. Her face looked softer than before, her eyes were glowing, and ocean blue and her cascading blonde hair shone in the afternoon sun. 

Ben noticed that Leslie had most of the camp attire on, she had a worn hoodie tied around her waist, an oversized t-shirt that hung over jean shorts, and most importantly, everything was red, including her socks, even her blue jean shorts had red paint splatters on the fading material. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Leslie rushed back to Ann's aid, where most of the other campers were sitting on logs or crouching next to her.

"Raccoons, I would like to introduce you to your newest members, Ben Wyatt and Stephanie Wyatt. " Leslie clambered onto a log and whistled, looking bored, gaining the attention of all the campers, and then announced who he was, as Ben started to turn red with embarrassment. 

The teenagers all simultaneously turned to look at them, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment before they all turned back to what they were doing before. Ben sighed in relief; he was happy with being unknown. But he felt much more comfortable when he saw Steph look at him with eyes full of shame, at least something felt normal. 

Leslie started to shout again, apparently, she was explaining how the camp worked and all the activities and all that shit, Ben remarked, in his head, of course, he really didn't want to face the wrath of Leslie Barbara Knope again. 

Ben listened as she explained that each night they have a different activity, so tonight was Orientation Night, whatever that meant. And then she talked about all the activities they did; she explained that they were going to be doing quad biking and rock climbing and various other activities that Ben wasn't any good at or had any interest in. But she did mention that they were going to be having a movie night the following night AND it was Star Wars, so that perked him up a little bit.

"So everyone, Ron Swanson, our team leader would like to say something" Leslie announced, enthusiastically clapping.

An older boy Ben hadn't noticed before, stepped out from behind the cabins and joined Leslie on the central log. 

"I have two rules: One: Don't die and Two: If you want to talk to me, don't. Talk to Leslie instead" Ron's gruff voice echoed around the clearing, and just as suddenly as he appeared, he disappeared, back into the trees. 

\---

At the sign-in desk, Ben had been given a binder that gave him information about his cabin number, teammates and general rules and regulations. It had been haphazardly stuffed into his duffel bag, so Ben pulled it out and liked to the first page. 

Ben Wyatt, it read.

Team Name: Racoons, odd team name, Ben thought.

Cabin No: 14

Roommates: Andrew "Andy" Dwyer, Mark Brendanawicz, Crist Treager and Benjamin Wyatt. He cringed at the use of his full name and then audibly sighed in relief at his pairing with Chris. 

Raccoon Team: Ron Swanson (Team Leader), Leslie Knope (Deputy Team Leader), Ann Perkins, April Ludgate, Donna Meagle, Stephanie Wyatt, Natalie Ludgate, Lindsay Carlise-Shay, Orin Chen, Dave Sanderson, Jean-Ralphio Saperstein, Tom Haverford, Chris Traeger, Andy Dwyer, 

Camp Leader: Gary Gingrich

\---

"Now, the Orientation Night starts at 8:00 pm, so go to your cabins and meet your roommates!" Ben faintly heard Leslie's voice as he repacked his bags and strode over to his cabin. The first one, number 11, was filled with four young girls: Natalie, April, Steph and a girl named Shauna, who he hadn't heard about yet. Through the windows, he could see April stabbing some sort of doll and the others chatting on their beds; girl talk he presumed. 

Cabin number 12 was the other girl cabin. In it was Leslie, Ann, Donna and Lindsay, Ben only recognized Leslie and Ann, Chris hadn't mentioned the other two. As Ben tried to peer in, he was met by Leslie's stern face and the "swoosh" of drawn curtains. 

Ben didn't bother looking in Cabin 13, he just wanted to find his cabin and hopefully find someone who would listen to his Star Trek fanfiction, he hadn't had much luck over the past summers, Steph would scoff, and Henry would torment, and his parents would be too busy arguing. 

Cabin no.14 was on the far right, near the campfire and the path out of the clearing. And if he listened carefully, Ben could hear the faint babbling of the brook, which ran adjacent to the clearing. Cabin 14 was not very distinguishable; he would not have known it was his, if not for the rusty looking 14 and a half-hearted hung banner over the door. 

Ben turned the handle and stepped over the threshold, to be greeted by three boys, one with a sullen-looking frown and the others with beaming smiles. 

"Hey, you must be Benjamin, I'm Andy" greeted the boy nearest the door, who then stood up abruptly, then toppled back over onto the bed. Ben wondered if he was already drunk until he saw the rollerblades on Andy's feet. Ben frowned, interesting, before smiling back at Andy and introducing himself. 

"Hi, everyone calls me Ben though" he mumbled, earning a disproving glance from the sullen boy. 

"Ben Wyatt!" Ben heard Chris exclaim. 

"Yes, hello Chris" Ben returned, with a hint of annoyance in his tone. Chris was on the top bunk, and underneath was what Ben presumed was his bed, all the others had already been taken. 

Ben waited for what seemed like hours before the sullen boy in the corner piped up for an introduction. 

"I'm Mark" replied the boy, who then turned away and resumed un-packing. 

Ben stood there, awkwardly, unsure if the boy had finished talking, before turning to his bed. On the underneath, he saw scribbles from past campers and the headboard had names scrawled into the wood. He unpacked his book and walkman into the bedside table and then started to put his clothes into the wardrobe. Ben hadn't been sure what to pack, so he had just thrown whatever was clean into his duffle, a move he now regretted. There was money in his wallet for extra clothes, so he pulled on his sneakers and set off to buy some team merchandise, or whatever was cheapest. 

\-----

As he left the clearing, he heard leaves ruffle behind him and a familiar blonde bound up beside him. 

"What do you think you're doing!" asked Leslie with a tone of disbelief. 

"I forgot some stuff at home, and I heard there was a shop or something like that." Ben trailed off as Leslie's expression softened. 

"Oh well, I know that I am supposed to hate you, but I can't let one of my teammates get lost, from what Chris told me, you're quite the baseball player," Leslie replied, a twinkle in her eye. 

Ben could feel a blush on his cheeks as he replied with a " _not really"._ Leslie led him through the woods and was greeted with the familiar gates and the rec centre. Leslie pointed out that the shop was on the left, and he suspected that she would wander back to the camp and help someone else, but she stayed with him, even pointing out the who everyone was and what they did. 

"That's Jerry, he runs the place, but between you and I, I think he barely knows what he's doing half the time" Leslie whispered, and the started to chuckle, and Ben joined in, and before they knew it, they were both full-on cackling. 

Once they recovered, Ben kept on smiling, and then drew in a sigh fo relief, he hadn't laughed like that in a long time, and he started to see why everyone liked Leslie so much. 

\----

The Camp Shop was a small squat building, filled to the brim with colourful t-shirts and sports equipment. Leslie helped Ben pick out some, what she called "necessities". By the end of their shopping trip, he had: at least half a dozen camp t-shirts ( a Team Raccon! t-shirt, a Team Raccon! baseball shirt and soccer jersey and around three shirts with motivation quotes), a Team Raccoon! hoodie, some toiletries and various other things he wouldn't have thought about bringing, even if he tried. 

On the walk back to the cabins, Leslie became distant, and as soon as they set foot in the clearing, she raced off toward her cabin, without even a second glance. 

Odd, Ben thought, as he strolled back to his cabin. 

It was around six o'clock when Andy came up with what Chris thought was "literally, the greatest idea of all time".

"Why don't we go explore the woods, last year the older kids thought they saw a ghost!" Andy exclaimed, still attached to the rollerblades as Ben wondered if they ever came off. 

The other boys agreed although Ben was a little hesitant. He had always been afraid of stuff like that, preferring fantasy stories to real adventures. But he didn't want to be labelled as the "wuss" on the first day, so he joined them as the four boys set off. 

\----

They emerged around an hour later, faces as pale as china dolls and widened eyes, like something from a horror film. Andy quickly recovered, and yes, he did still have his skates on, as he skated off to boast to everyone about how they were not scared. Chris, although frightened, still had his optimistic attitude and Mark, the sullen boy, rushed off towards Leslie, probably looking to snitch. 

"Hey, um, Chris, what's Leslie's deal, is she single, or something" Ben stuttered as he caught Chris up. 

Chris's jaw dropped as his eyes flew wide with excitement. 

"Benji Wyatt, you like a girl!"

"No, I don't, I was just wondering, she's nice and funny but, um, not my type, I shouldn't have asked, okay! Bye." Ben rambled, cheeks flushing with a red tint.

"Leslie isn't dating anyone right now" Ben started to smile, eyes glowing. "But, Mark Brendanawich and Dave Sanderson are both madly in love with her, and we have all placed bets on which she decides to give in to!" Chris remarked in a teasing tone. 

Ben sighed heavily and walked back to the cabin, where he planned on immersing himself in the land of Westeros once again. 

\-----

He turned the corner of his page down when he heard the abnormally loud voice of Leslie from the campfire pit. All the other camper were crowded around, and he was so blind before, it was apparent the way Mark stood, just that bit too close, to Leslie, and the look on Dave's face was pure adoration. 

Leslie commenced Orientation Night with the banging of a gong, a little extreme he thought, but he knew it was just Leslie, being Leslie. 

\----

To be honest, Ben didn't know what he was doing that night. 

He met Dave, for real, and he seemed like a nice guy, but whenever someone brought up Leslie, his face would turn the same colour as his ginger mop of hair. 

Orin and April seemed to go everywhere together; he thought they were _together_ together before he caught April looking lustfully at Andy, who at that point was blatantly flirting with Shauna, arm touching and everything. Ben didn't see April for the rest of the night; he presumed she was sticking pins into a Shauna lookalike doll. 

Ben also met Lindsay, who called him Dan for at least ten minutes before he could correct her, and even after that, brushed it off saying that it "didn't matter" and "wouldn't come up again". 

\-----

The night ended with the campers sprawled over the logs, stuffing s'mores into their mouths. Leslie ate around two dozen while Chris adamantly refused to even go near those "death traps."

Leslie started to sing some camp song, and after a few lines, the whole group was singing, and even Ben started to hum along, swaying with the breeze. But then he saw, out of the corner of his eye, Dave sling his arm around Leslie and that small movement sparked something in Ben. 

Jealousy? No, it couldn't be.

He didn't like her that way.

No, he didn't. 

Or did he. 

Shit, Ben Wyatt liked Leslie Knope, he _like_ liked her. 

\-----

As he crawled into his bed after about an hour of sitting around telling stupid stories and doing dares, his head was swarmed with thousands of thoughts and worries. He couldn't sleep, not with the image of Leslie in his head, not with the image of his arm around her shoulders, his hand grasping hers. 

And Mark's constant mumbling, Andy's atypically loud snores and Chris's 15 times nightly bathroom breaks did not help in the slightest. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! This is my first fic and it hasn't been beta'd or anything like that, but I hope you enjoy it! 
> 
> Quick Notes: Everyone is in the same High School year, except for April, Natalie, Shauna and Steph who are 2-3 years younger than the others. And Ice Town hasn't happened yet. 
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!!!  
> With love x


End file.
